TCC Podcast #399: Never Too Early to Start with Emilia Tanase

When you start writing copy at age 16, you've got to connect with prospects and stand out or you won't be able to compete with more experienced copywriters. And that's exactly what Emilia Tanase, our guest for the 399th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast did. Rob and Kira asked Emilia about how she launched her business, how she connected with two high-level mentors, and her approach to writing emails. There's a lot of good stuff in this episode. Click the play button below, or scroll down for a full transcript.   Stuff to check out: Get Rich Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground Emilia's website   Full Transcript: Rob Marsh: Over the past 7 years of this podcast, we’ve interviewed a really wide variety of people who have made a living out of writing copy and content. They come from all over the world and from all kinds of different backgrounds. But I think today’s guest is different from all of them in at least one way—she started working as a copywriter when she was still in high school. She’s taken a pretty interesting path to copywriting success and her early start is just a small part of her story. Hi, I’m Rob Marsh, one of the founders of The Copywriter Club. And on today’s episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast, my co-founder Kira Hug and I interviewed copywriter Emilia Tanase. Emilia has discovered the formula for getting noticed by mentors and figuring out ways to get found by clients without pitching. As you might imagine, starting out in high school meant she’s had to hustle to figure out how to make business work. And there’s a lot to learn from Emilia’s story.   Before we jump into the interview, I want to let you know about an upcoming training happening in The Copywriter Underground that’s absolutely critical for anyone who writes emails—either for their own business or for their clients. Copywriter and email deliverability expert Matt Brown will be sharing his hard won secrets for getting emails into the inbox—rather than the promotions or spam tabs in gmail, yahoo and other bigger email programs. This takes much more than avoiding a few smammy words or reworking your subject lines. And when you know how to do this, clients will hire you to not just write emails, but to manage their web marketing strategy. It could be a game changer for your busienss. But as are most of the masterclasses we curate, this training is exclusively for members of The Copywriter Underground. You can learn more about this upcoming masterclass at thecopywriterclub.com/tcu. And with that, let’s go to our interview with Emilia... Kira Hug: All right, Emilia, let's start with your story. How did you end up as a copywriter? Emilia Tanase: It actually it goes back in time to when I was 16. I started when I was in high school because my mom got really sick and so she was really struggling with keeping up with our bills and holding the household together Unfortunately, at the same time, my dad also lost his job. So she was the sole provider and money was really scarce. And when you're in a small Romanian town, it's pretty hard to find a job right away. So me, a teenager at the time, I was like, hey, how can I make some pocket money, help my parents out, make this a bit easier for all of us, if I can.  I went online and of course I typed in, how to make money in high school. And, you know, there were the typical answers, like, wash cars or walk dogs and whatnot, but these are not really jobs that we do here in Romania. In America, sure, but here not so much. And then I found, be a copywriter or do copywriting work. I was like, what is copywriting? It sounded like, you know, patenting some intellectual property. But I Googled it and I found out it was like this whole thing that people were doing for other businesses.  And when you're that young, you don't think that much about things. So I was like, oh, I can do this for sure. So of course, the next step was like, okay, how do I find a copywriting job fast?  I landed on Craigslist and people are always very surprised when I say this. And I was shocked too, because I didn't know what Craigslist was at the time. So I was seeing these ads for opportunities like, I'm selling a washing machine. I need a chainsaw or something like that. And then someone was like, Hey, I need an about page for, they had this local arts magazine. So I was like, cool, I can do that. I can write. So I sent them a cover letter. It was very cringy… dear sir or madam, I can do this job for you. And I think it was like $40. And I got it a couple of days later. They emailed me. And I'm pretty sure it's because no one else had applied to that job. And that's how I got it. But I got it.  And then I went online because I was like, God, I don't know how to write an about page, let's figure this out. So of course, you know, the internet is filled with articles on how to write copy, at least to start with. So I used that. I did the thing. I sent it out. They were happy, so they hired me for more small jobs like this. And basically, it all started from here. It snowballed because I started making $1,000 per month, which was, at the time, and in Romania, a lot of money. But of course, I also had my studies, so school to take care of. So this is kind of why I was on and off with copywriting, like making bits of money and then making a pause and then going back at it.  Eventually I had to stop, or I thought I had to stop, to go to university because that was the direction everyone was taking back then. And still is, a lot of people consider uni So I did that and then I picked digital marketing because I saw that they had the module about copywriting. So I was thinking ahead. I was like, maybe I can go back to copywriting in the future. Let me learn something here. And that module ended up being one class where I was the only one who knew how to answer the teacher's questions. So it was pretty basic stuff, unfortunately. And time passed, and I realized more and more that I want to do my own thing. I did this before. I'm pretty decent at it, so maybe I can do it again. But the problem was that time had passed, and It was a lot more difficult for me to restart copywriting. After getting that first job from Craiglist, I actually went to Upwork. So that's where I started getting more and more jobs. But now, after a couple of years, there were a lot more copywriters on Upwork. And so I had to find a way to stand out in my proposals, like everyone else, and to start making a name for myself, basically. So that was the big hurdle. And that's also when I had my biggest breakthrough, because I started doing things on the side to grow my brand and grow my authority. But yeah, in a nutshell, that's how I got started. Rob Marsh: So let's talk a little bit about what you did so that you could stand out. Because I think not just you coming back to copywriting, but across the board, copywriters today struggle with this. There are, I think, close to 2 million copywriters on LinkedIn around the world. So what did you do to start to stand out from that group that you were competing with on Upwork? Emilia Tanase: Yeah. First of all, I started creating my own samples because the work that I was previously winning wasn't the work that was being requested those days on Upwork, right? So nobody wanted an about page for a magazine. The jobs I was seeing at the time were for full websites or emails or ads, and I didn't have those things. So I started creating samples for fictional businesses, applying those to or attaching those to my cover letters, and also taking some unconventional directions with the way I was introducing myself. I would look for their names, the client's name, which is not so easy to find, right? Because you can't really see it on Upwork. So I would look through the past reviews they have from people they hired and find their name, or I would start with some kind of silly jokes that I would think of in the moment, because I had learned that the first line in your proposal is kind of the one that determines if it gets read or not. So I kind of started doing these things and some of them worked, some of them didn't. And then at the same time, you know, I was getting better and better at copywriting as well. And I started doing like the typical PAS or using the AIDA model, like just applying copywriting to these cover letters. And then I think I got one big job. It was like a $3,000 or $4,000 job from there. And then I went out of Upwork and just continued with that client for a longer time. Kira Hug: Can you share the timeline? I really need to kind of understand the dates. So if you're okay sharing that, like when you started at age 16 and then any other dates, like when you decided to go back and go on Upwork and give it a go the second time too? Yeah. Emilia Tanase: At 16, I don't remember what year it was and I'm bad at math, but I know that I left for university in 2017. It was my first year of university. So that's kind of when I quit altogether because I was focusing on that. And then in 2020, I remember the year because I registered my company here in Romania. But actually, I didn't do much work that year because I was still working part-time for my university for a job I had. So 2021 really was the year when I restarted my career altogether. Kira Hug: Okay, and so did you finish your college degree or did you not finish? Did you share that part? Emilia Tanase: Yeah, I finished it in 2020, I think. Kira Hug: Okay. Amazing. And so let's just kind of finish the story and we can dig deeper into it. So since 2021, when you jump back in and leading up to where we are today, 2024, um, what are the key moves that you've made that have helped you the most over the last few years? Emilia Tanase: Yeah.